Pib

Whoops....previously I misspelled 20 & 21 above....I spelled as Juman (with a J) but correct spelling is Zuman (with a Z) which I have now corrected above. Happy New Year.

You do not need any type of LTR visa and/or work permit for the initial 2 year driver's license and then after that a 5 year driving license. You only need some type of 1 year visa like a 1 year Non B/O/OA visa. Heck I got my initial driver's license (which was valid for 1 or 2 years...I forget which one) and then my 5 year license under my OA Retirement 1 year visa....and have renewed the 5 year license twice under a 1 year retirement/marriage extension of stays.

Regarding the Thai citizenship question it would indeed provide a pathway to Thai citizenship simply because it a way of staying in Thailand for at least 3 years and working on a work permit for at least 3 years which would meet the core requirements of applying for Permanent Residence (PR) if you are a single person. Now if you are married to a Thai then the pathway to Thai citizenship is a little different but even that pathway requires some type of visa to stay in Thailand long enough to meet citizenship requirements. I think below website provides good info on "obtaining Thai citizenship" as each person's particular situation will affect the pathway to citizenship. https://www.thaicitizenship.com/

No....can not. But you can switch from a O/A Retirement extension of stay to an O/A Marriage Extension of Stay. As the underlying visa the original O/A visa will still be in place but the Extension of Stay will be based on Marriage vs Retirement....and this changes the required income and insurance requirements. If doing a Retirement extension based on an underlying O/A the medical insurance is required along with the 800K deposit or 65K/month income. But if switching to a Marriage extension based on an underlying O/A no medical insurance is required and only a Bt400K on deposit for only 2 months before applying or Bt40K/month income. And after getting the Marriage Extension if you were using the 400K deposit method you can take the deposit balance immediately down to zero if desired "after getting the final extension stamp (don't drop below during the Under Consideration period which lasts for about a month after applying). Or said another way you'll need to maintain at least Bt400K for 3 months over the year for a marriage extension vs 800K to 400K the entire 12 months for a retirement extension of stay. Yea, there is a little more application paperwork required for a marriage extension like providing your original marriage certificate, a Kor Ror 2 marriage doc confirming you are still married which you can get easily/very cheap (a few baht) get at any district office in Thailand (I assuming you were married in Thailand), and 4 to 6 pictures of you and the spouse around/in your residence. That's pretty much it in terms of additional paperwork over a retirement extension of stay. Around three years ago I switched from doing a Retirement extension on my O/A for around 11 years to a Marriage Extension on my O/A in order to avoid the Thai medical insurance requirement. And the marriage extension lower deposit/income requirement was nice.

Definitely apply yourself since you've had the Bt800K in a Thai bank for 12 months. It's so easy....just a few short/easy forms to complete/provide. Also, make an appt to avoid the long queue....you can renew up to 45 days early at CW. You'll probably be done within 1 hr after checking in for your appt. Then take the agent-fee money you saved and go buy something nice for yourself or someone else. Happy New Year.

Update: Known LTR Visa Approvals as of 29 Dec 2022 "based on posts in this thread I saw." Added in bold text "User3847385, Saraburi121, & khunjeff" who got LTR visa Approved 8, 23, & 26 Dec, respectively. Two were Pensioner visas and one Work from Thailand Professional visa. See their posts above over the last day or so for more details. Congrats!!! Seems like December has turned out to be a good month for LTR approvals. In below list 5 were approved in Sep, 9 in Oct, only 3 in Nov, and 8 so far in Dec. Remember, this list only accounts for those who have announced an approval in this thread. Happy Holidays To All. I know the folks below who got their LTR Golden Ticket are probably feeling pretty happy. Poster & Date Approval Notice Rec'd 1. BKKNono - 15 Sep 2. ashkale - 28 Sep 3. ThailandRyan - 28 Sep 4. pepper402 - 29 Sep 5. gajah - 30 Sep 6. Alotoftravel - 4 Oct 7. James7 - 4 Oct 8. & 9. Misty (and family member) - 4 Oct 10. mudcat - 4 Oct 11. & 12. stuarty (and wife) - 4 Oct 13. Boomer6969 - 5 Oct 14. aublumberg - 12 Oct 15. JJJJJJJJ - 8 Nov 16. smic - 28 Nov 17. Paul3456 - 30 Nov 18. anotherexpat4444 - 7 Dec 19. User3847385 - 8 Dec 20. & 21. Juman - 16 Dec (and Mrs Juman on 27 Dec) 22. lextsy - 21 Dec 23. Pib - 23 Dec 24. Saraburi121 - 23 Dec 25. khunjeff - 26 Dec

1. The Tricare evidence I submitted consisted of one page memo within my me explaining my outstanding Tricare coverage, a U.S. military benefits letter confirming I was enrolled in Tricare but this benefits letter only shows an enrollment date but no end date, a one page document from the Tricare website explaining how Tricare for Life works, and a chart consisting of around 4 pages showing Tricare outpatient, inpatient, pharmacy, etc., coverage/costs/etc. But since Tricare provides basically "unlimited" worldwide coverage no max dollars are provided like saying inpatient coverage is $100K, $1M, etc. These type of govt-provided/govt-sponsored open-ended/group type policies just look different and are written differently from a typical civilian insurance policy that comes with a policy sheet showing a start and end date, coverage amounts, etc. Basically I patched together a policy resembling a civilian policy since Tricare does not provide a written policy like a civilian policy. Instead, you pretty much just go to Tricare websites and/or your online Tricare acct to see generic docs/booklets explaining your Tricare coverage. Very similar to how Medicare coverage works in that there is no civilian type policy but just an online acct, websites to get info, phone numbers to call customer service for more info, etc. 2. Although I called quite a few times starting after the 20 working days had passed I never got to talk to the specific BoI Screener/Agent that was actually reviewing my application....and actually I don't think it was just "one" Screener but several that may have been involved. I usually ended up talking to "front desk customer service type" although two times I did get to talk to one of the actual application Screeners after I had uploaded the additional docs. But at that time the Screener said the Screening (Reviewing Section) had not yet got around to taking another look at my application after I had uploaded the additional docs. But yea, I think I gave it the ol' college try to get BoI to accept Tricare to include explaining how it's an opened ended policy....has no end date unless I croak or stop paying the premium which is automatically deducted form my retirement pay. But that try was not good enough most likely due to the "no end date showing at least 10 months left on the coverage" which the BoI seems to be firm on....a must-have at least for now. I hope in the future they provide more flexibility to open-end policies (outstanding, basically unlimited coverage) as such coverage/policies are quite common with some groups of people such as govt retirees and even those still serving with the govt.

But regarding when will a person be required to apply for the 2nd 5 years of the 10 year visa although a person might end up with rolling, conflicting permitted to stay until stamps in their passport from traveling in & out of the country, I fully expect a person's renewal window to get the 2nd 5 years will be based on when the LTR visa was actually "issued" at BoI or an embassy. I'm fully expect the clock will start ticking based on the LTR issued date (not the approval date but the issued dat) and we'll see more guidance regarding that on the LTR website. Right now the BoI is probably still developing the exact procedure/process for that 2nd 5 years which will not come due until Sep 2027 since the first LTR visa issued only just occurred staring a few months ago in Sep 2022. Plus I expect BoI knows there could be LTR policy changes (for the better or worst) between now and Sep 2027 which could alter the 2nd 5 years procedure/policy.

Jim, My Tricare was not accepted but no specific reason(s) was given. About 5 weeks in to my application I checked my application status one day (I was checking it multiple times per day) and the Status had changed from Pending to Request for Add'l Docs. There was no online notification nor did I get an email stating why. So, I started looking around my submitted application and noticed there were now a red text comment in the Income upload area stating evidence of income/tax return was required....it was just a one sentence statement saying income evidence can be provided by providing income evidence or providing a tax return. That's not the exact wording, but it's pretty close. It was just a short comment and not phrased as a request. Nor did it say the income evidence I had already provided in my pensions annuity monthly/annual statements which exceed $80K was inadequate. So, I uploaded my latest income tax return (redacted a little to partially mask my SSN) in the Income upload area. I figure the BoI wanted to see my income tax return to provide further proof of my income. And in the medical coverage area a comment in red text that was simply a quote from LTR website saying: "Provide a health insurance policy covering medical expenses in Thailand of at least USD 50,000 with a remaining coverage period of at least 10 months as of the date of the letter of qualification endorsement issuance; or evidence of social security benefits insuring medical expenses in Thailand; or a deposit balance of at least USD 100,000 in a bank account in Thailand or abroad retained for at least12 months as of the date of application." Once again, just that comment....not phrased as a request...nothing saying my Tricare evidence I had already uploaded was not good enough, etc. To me BoI was indirectly saying my military Tricare coverage did not meet the requirements probably because it did not have an "end-date" as most civilian policies have both a specific start date for the current annual coverage and also a specific end date 12 months down the road. I had also seen posts in other forums talking LTR applications where applicants with "open-ended, group" type policies which typically do not have an end date reflected on the policy also not being accepted by BoI. Opened ended, group type policies many times do "not" have a policy end date as long as you are still kicking and paying the premiums (if any premiums are needed). Typically these are government-provided/sponsored policies. Although these open-ended, group type medical coverage policies provide outstanding worldwide coverage (like Tricare), unfortunately, the lack of the policy showing an end-date at least 10 months down the road is probably why it failed to satisfy BoI. So, I went the self ensure route...uploaded self insure band/financial docs. Once again, I did not receive any specific reason why Tricare was not accepted. I just received some quoted requirements that to prove medical coverage I can do so by providing a policy that has at least 10 months remaining on it OR show I have Thai social security coverage OR self insure. After uploading the income tax return and self insure docs about 3 weeks later my application was approved and I now have the LTR Golden Ticket stamped in my passport.

When was your LTR "approved?" You said you got it "inked into your passport" on 14 Dec which means the Approval would have been sometime earlier. Since having the LTR actually put in/inked into your passport depends on when a person makes an appointment at BoI or applies at an embassy which could be up to 60 days after approval, knowing the "approval" date gives folks a better picture of how long your application took from submission to approval. Thanks.

Sounds like you need to bounce the question off BoI again since one BoI rep said yes but another BoI said no. You need to politely point out the conflicting answers. Note: before I applied for my LTR Pensioner I asked BoI via email a medical insurance question and their reply weeks later ended up being completely wrong. Kinda like they initially answered with a firm "Yes" but when applying it turned out to be a "No." If I was you I would call BoI to ask your question again and see if you can talk to someone who is just not the "all purpose customer support rep" which might answer as such reps may not be inexperienced on some questions/issues. I don't see anything on the LTR website that says a LTR Work from Thailand Professional could not be issued a digit work permit....in fact the Work from Thailand Professional application has a Work Permit area for completion "if" you plan to or are currently working in Thailand. Link to application https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Work-From-Thailand-Professional.pdf Partial snapshot from the application regarding work permit

And I wonder if Boi is considering outsourcing "part or all" of the LTR application process to include LTR website management. I could easily see where part of the process could be outsourced like website management and doing the "initial" processing/review of applications. And then at the tail-end of the application process BoI would then take the baton to do a final review, provide final coordination with other govt agencies like Immigration/Dept of Employment, and final approval. Kinda like a 10 lap track race....maybe the first 9 laps would be run by a contracted third party who has a contract with BoI and then BoI takes the baton to run the final/10th lap. I think the probability of BoI outsourcing the entire process is very remote but "partially" outsourcing some of the process like the initial review of applications and website management should be quite doable, but I'm also sure there are a lot of laws/regulations/policies/rice bowls which might not make such a move easy. It sure would be nice if the BoI could improve the application efficiency to where they could routinely meet their 20 working days goal of reaching a final decision (approved or disapproved). Right now that 20 working day goal seems to be the exception vs the norm.

I wonder if the genesis of this disclaimer is caused by visa agents, lawyers, scammers, etc., beginning to advertise they can hand-walk a person thru the LTR application for a fee?

Update: Known LTR Approvals as of 27 Dec 2022 based on posts in this thread I saw. Added "Zuman" and his wife who got approved 16 & 27 Dec, respectively. See his post above for more details. Congrats!!! And I know of one other poster in this thread who just got approved and hopefully he'll announce his good news soon so we can add him to the list. Seems like December is turning out to be a good month for LTR approvals. In below list 5 were approved in Sep, 9 in Oct, only 3 in Nov, and 5 so far in Dec. Remember, this list only accounts for those who have announced an approval in this thread. Poster & Date Approval Notice Rec'd 1. BKKNono - 15 Sep 2. ashkale - 28 Sep 3. ThailandRyan - 28 Sep 4. pepper402 - 29 Sep 5. gajah - 30 Sep 6. Alotoftravel - 4 Oct 7. James7 - 4 Oct 8. & 9. Misty (and family member) - 4 Oct 10. mudcat - 4 Oct 11. & 12. stuarty (and wife) - 4 Oct 13. Boomer6969 - 5 Oct 14. aublumberg - 12 Oct 15. JJJJJJJJ - 8 Nov 16. smic - 28 Nov 17. Paul3456 - 30 Nov 18. anotherexpat4444 - 7 Dec 19. & 20. Juman - 16 Dec (and Mrs Juman on 27 Dec) 21. lextsy - 21 Dec 22. Pib - 23 Dec

Just some more FYI....one other change I noticed in my online acct after my status moved from Approved to Complete.....and that is a "Work Permit" selection appearing in my acct menu (see below). Click on that Work Permit selection and it takes you into a Work Permit application. I did not apply for a Work Permit for my LTR Pensioner visa (i.e, selected No in the LTR application area where they ask if you were also applying for a work permit). So guess since I initially declined a work permit in the LTR application that my online acct updated to provide a separate area to apply for a work permit if some day I decide I do want the permit since I'm allowed a work permit with a LTR visa. After clicking the Work Permit menu selection you see below. And then after clicking above Work Permit icon you get below where you could create the Work Permit application and upload necessary docs. But when I clicked "Submit" assuming it might take me to another screen to actually start the Work Permit application it just took me back to above icon. So, I guess if I ever do change my mind after getting a work permit....going to work in Thailand (which I can't image doing such since total retirement is just fine with me) I would probably have to call BoI to have them fully activate the Work Permit menu selection so I could actually submit a Work Permit application.

This curiosity question is for any folks who have been approved for any category of LTR visa....well, it's probably more directed more towards the Pensioner category. Where lextsy said he provided an annual tax statement were any of you able to avoid providing a tax return statement? But instead you only had to provide other income evidence like a monthly/annual pension statement, salary slips, etc. Now I got the Pensioner LTR visa where my primary evidence of having the required $80K income was providing my monthly/annual pension statements. I did not initially provide my tax return because of LTR website security/privacy concerns but also in my case one of my pensions is 100% tax free/non tax return reportable (i.e., a Veterans Administration (VA) pension)--no IRS 1099R generated for VA benefits as they are tax free by U.S. law. And due to this VA pension it allows my military retirement pension to only be partially taxable which lowers the taxable/reportable amount on that pension. Then I have another govt pension that is also only partially taxed/reportable. Now my pension annuity statements (including the VA monthly statements) clearly showed the gross amounts, whether taxable/tax return reportable or not. But since a very significant portion of my gross pension income is non-tax able/non-reportable on my tax return (which is a joint return with the wife) when comparing amounts tallied-up from the pension statements to lower amounts shown on a tax return a person can get concerned that if the BoI relied primarily on only a tax return for the pensioner category where some pension(s) may be non-taxable/non-reportable...or maybe even some other LTR visa categories like the Work from Thailand Professional....then the applicant could become very worried that although their pension statement(s) show they have the required LTR income "but" their income tax return shows a significantly "lower" pension income due to the pension(s) being non-taxable/non-reportable. Anyway, as mentioned, I did not initially submit a copy of my last tax return from 2021 due to security/privacy concerns and concern about conflict/confusion with my pension statements but about 30 days after submitting my application BoI did send an Additional Docs Required Request to provide my tax return. I did such, which was a PDF copy of my tax software e-filed return (i.e., the PDF copy you print for your records after uploading/e-filing your return) and I did not submit an IRS tax return transcript although I had one ready if requested. Now, I'm pretty sure that BoI used my pension statements as the primary evidence and required the tax return just for some double checking purposes, some additional validation of income....or maybe just to confirm you are a tax-fearing/paying good citizen. Or maybe doing a certain degree of comparing your pension statements to your tax return to see if they are at least in the same ballpark. The BoI showing flexibly in reviewing/confirming your income as I'm sure with all the various tax laws and tax return documents used in different countries that if only relying on a tax return it could misrepresent/greatly understate actual gross income for some people. So, I'm giving the BoI a big thumbs-up in showing income evidence flexibility. So, I was just wondering (curious) if any of you folks who were LTR visa approved were you able to get your application approved "without" providing your latest tax return?

Yeap, maintenance and training. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there wasn't periodic major intermediate and/or drydock-level maintenance overdue due to a maintenance funding shortfall or senior leadership delaying maintenance just to keep the ship in operation. Many operators (i.e., admirals, generals, etc.,) just hate to see their ships, planes, and tanks go into depot-level maintenance which can last months to years. There has always been a battle between operators, maintainers, and budget folks as to when big-money maintenance can be accomplished. Any yea, training could have been lacking like sailors being signed-off in training records as being fully qualified/trained on certain tasks when in fact they hadn't received enough training....that is, pencil-whipping training records. And no, I'm not saying insufficient training for the "enlisted" sailors or overdue maintenance as the driving factor may have been poor leadership & operational decisions made by the "officers" during the emergency. But to get to the bottom of things all necessary docs/records need to be immediately secured to prevent records from being doctored to cover tracks.

Or not enough.

Even though the govt reduced the fuel excise tax "immediately" on 1 Jan the airlines are only going to start reducing their airfares "gradually" as they see fit which means foot dragging by the airlines....basically the excise tax cut staying in the airlines pockets as additional profit....like a taxpayer subsidy to the airlines. Quote: All seven airlines will be jointly organising a special promotion with all air fares to be gradually reduced by up to 20% depending on how each airline arranges it. End quote.

bank savings.

Just as FYI, when my application was approved the online acct Status column displayed Approved.....after I made the appointment to have the LTR visa put in my passport the Status changed to Appointment......and now after getting the visa put in my passport the Status shows "Complete." I just love the sound of "complete." ????

Update: Known LTR Approvals as of 26 Dec 2022 based on posts in this thread I saw. Added "Pib" (i.e., me) who got his approved 23 Dec....an early Christmas gift from the BoI (and Santa). See his post above for more details. Poster & Date Approval Notice Rec'd 1. BKKNono - 15 Sep 2. ashkale - 28 Sep 3. ThailandRyan - 28 Sep 4. pepper402 - 29 Sep 5. gajah - 30 Sep 6. Alotoftravel - 4 Oct 7. James7 - 4 Oct 8. & 9. Misty (and family member) - 4 Oct 10. mudcat - 4 Oct 11. & 12. stuarty (and wife) - 4 Oct 13. Boomer6969 - 5 Oct 14. aublumberg - 12 Oct 15. JJJJJJJJ - 8 Nov 16. smic - 28 Nov 17. Paul3456 - 30 Nov 18. anotherexpat4444 - 7 Dec 19. lextsy - 21 Dec 20. Pib - 23 Dec

Merry Christmas to me as my LTR Pensioner application submitted 25 Oct was approved 23 Dec/Friday. I ended up self-insuring as they didn't accept my U.S. military insurance (Tricare) most likely due to it not having an end date like a typical 1 year policy. Tricare is an open-ended worldwide coverage policy...no need to renew each year.....as long as you are alive and paying the monthly premium the insurance stays in force. So I self insured instead. Upon the 23 Dec I immediately made an appointment for 26 Dec/Monday/today to get the LTR visa put in my passport which occurred. I'm now back home with an LTR-P 10 year Visa stamp, a 5 year initial entry period stamp, a multiple entry stamp, and a little slip of paper saying my next address reporting is due 25 Dec 2023. During these final steps at BoI today, the BoI rep who hand-walked me thru the final steps at the BoI One Stop Center and Immigration across the hall was superb. Made me feel like a HiSo VIP. It feels so, so good to have this 10 year (5+5) visa....no annual renewal (just the renewal at the 5 year mid point which is fee-free), no 90 day address reporting but only 1 year address reporting, etc. Makes me feel more at home in Thailand.

Joint accts, personal or business, can be setup either as "or" type accts where either acct owner can withdraw money with only their signature or the accts can be setup as "and" accts where both acct owners must sign to withdraw. And I'm not talking a signatory where the acct owner(s) authorize another person to withdraw funds. That signatory's name will not appear on the acct/passbook although depending on the bank that signatory's signature may appear in the back of the passbook only when viewed under a blacklight.

Yeap, that's their initial look/coordination on an application. But some of those "other govt agencies" (like immigration) also get another look/coordination after BoI proves a "qualification approval." On the tail-end of the process Boi will do some more quick coordination with Immigration and/or Dept of Employment to dot the i's & cross the t's.....make sure any other minor paperwork might not "now" be required since it may have taken months for your application to reach it current location in the coordination/review process. Example: Although you do not need to submit your latest 90 days address report in your initial application it might get asked for later "if" immigration asks for it during immigration final/2nd coordination if their system mistakenly shows you are overdue. Now, the person may not actually be overdue...it's just the immigration system mistakenly indicates so. The person did indeed do the report or hasn't had to do a report for many months since they have been exiting and reentering Thailand on trips which resets the 90 day address clock that in-turn negates/delays the need to do an actual TM47 90 day address report online/by mail/in person. But this is an example of one issue that needs to be resolved before immigration will provide its 2nd coordination around the Steps 5 & 6 ballpark.